Latest Daf Yomi

Glossary Search

Find

כ״ד באדר א׳ ה׳תשע״ט (March 1, 2019)

Hullin 94a-b: The Prohibition Against Acting Deceitfully

On yesterday’s daf we learned of Shmuel’s prohibition of geneivat da’at – of deceiving others. On today’s daf, the Gemara relates a number of stories about Shmuel that illustrate this ruling, and then continues with other examples of deception that are forbidden.

Rabbi Meir taught: A man should not urge his friend to dine with him when he knows that his friend will not do so. And he should not offer him many gifts when he knows that his friend will not accept them. And he should not open for a guest barrels of wine that have already been sold to a storekeeper (and would, in any case, be opened), unless he informs the guest of it. And he should not invite him to anoint himself with oil if the jug is empty.

Our Rabbis taught: A man should not sell to his neighbor shoes made of the hide of an animal which died, representing them as made of the hide of a living animal which was slaughtered, for two reasons: first, because he is deceiving him, and secondly, because of the possible danger. A man should not send to his neighbor a barrel of wine with oil floating at the mouth of it, such that the recipient thinks it is a barrel of oil. It once happened that a man sent his friend a barrel of wine, and there was oil floating at the mouth of the barrel. He went and invited some guests to partake of it. When they came and he found that it was only wine he went and hanged himself.

Regarding misrepresenting the type of shoes being sold, the Sefer HaḤasidim (No. 454) teaches that it is inappropriate to give the shoes that belonged to a man who died as charity to a pauper because of the danger involved. This teaching has led to the popular custom that people do not wear the shoes of someone who died. Nevertheless, the aḥaronim have pointed out that the source of concern about danger relates not to the shoes of a person who died, but to shoes that are made of hide taken from an animal that died, lest the animal died from a snake bite and some residue of the poison remains.

The Aleph Society's digital Daf Yomi is available free to the public thanks to the generous support of readers like you. To dedicate future digital pages or tractates of the Steinsaltz Talmud, in honor of a special occasion or in memory of a loved one, please contact Melissa Sandler at +1 (212) 840-1166.